cULIN] FOUR-STICK GAME: KLAMATH 3381 
rawhide three-sixteenths of an inch in width except at the ex- 
treme ends. These are called skotus. In addition there are six 
counting sticks, one a forked twig, 194 inches in length, marked 
with burnt spots (as shown in figure 437) called teowtis; a 
pointed stick, 114 inches in length, also marked with burnt lines, 
called watch; and four pegs or pins, kice, 64 inches in length, 
accompanied by a flat basket (cat. no. 24113, figure 438), 18 
inches in diameter, with ornamental patterns in brown and with 
a bunch of deer thongs tied in the middle on the convex outer 
side. Collected by L. S. Dyar, Indian agent. 
The following description is given by the collector : 
Gambling outfit, luck-ulse, thirteen pieces. This game is played by two per- 
sons, who sit upon the ground facing each other. ‘The round mat, pubh-lah, is 
used as a cover to hide the four rods, two each of sol-cbhise and sko-tus. The 
person performing with 
these places them side by 
side on the ground under 
the mat, and the other 
guesses their relative po- 
sitions, whether the large 
ones are on the outside or 
in the middle, or if they 
alternate, ete, and his 
guess is indicated by cer- 
tain motions of the hand 
and fingers. After one 
guesses a certain number Fa. 438. Basket for four-stick game; diameter, 18 inches; 
of times he takes the mat Klamath Indians, Klamath agency, Oregon; cat. no. 24113, 
United States National Museum. 
and another guesses. The 
small sharp sticks, kice, are used for the same purpose as points or buttons in 
billiards, and the other two sticks, te-ow-tis, are stuck in the ground and used 
to indicate the progress of the game. The package of youcks, medicine, is used 
as a charm and was formerly considered of much value. 
Commenting on the above description, Doctor Gatschet writes: 
The game to which the four sticks belong is the shu’Ishesh game, and the two 
thicker sticks are also called shu’lshesh, while the two slender ones are sko’tas, 
sku’tash, wrapped up (in buckskin). A blanket is also called sku’tash, sko’- 
tash, because it wraps up a person. The small kice sticks were called, when 
I inquired for their name, kshésh, counting sticks, to count gains and losses, or 
checks used like our red and white ivory disks used in card games. Watch is 
wa’kash, a bone awl; wa’tch would be a house. Te-ow-tis is a word I never 
heard, but it must be te’-utish, stuck in the ground repeatedly, or ‘stuck in the 
ground for each one” of the gamesters, for te’wa means to plant, to stick up. 
The round mat is, in fact, a large tray, called pa’la, or pa”’hla, because used for 
drying seeds by the camp fire or in the sun. Luck-ulse is false for sha’kal6h, 
(1) gambling outfit for these sticks and also (2) the game itself. ‘“ The package 
of youcks is used as a charm.” Yes; that is so, because ya’uks (for ya’-ukish) 
means (1) remedy, drug used as a medicine, and, in a wider sense, (2) spiritual 
remedy of the conjurer, consisting in witchcraft, dreams, Shamanic songs. The 
verb of it is ya’-uka, to treat in sickness, and to heal or cure. 
